Hadda (Stolen Afghan Items – Sculptures / Heads)
Dieudonné Cartier

They likely belong to the Greco-Buddhic archaeological site of Hadda, a dozen kilometres south of Jalalabad in Eastern Afghanistan. Over the last forty years, many relics from this region have disappeared, victim of destruction and lootings, and remain actively sought.

The use of these documents conveys the expression of an absence and the trace of a manifestation. These objects were initially attributed an archaeological value during the excavations that allowed their discovery and their identification. After a series of conflicts caused a second disappearance, they re-emerge today, listed in a photographic database dedicated to their research in which they are designated as works of art.

In this context, and in the brutal absence of any physical experience of the object, the residual image of a now inaccessible heritage becomes its only mode of appearance. The loss of these figures paradoxically amplifies their inscription in art history, and enacts here a phenomenon of persistence.